ibly oppose that
mandate, and he therefore determines to cast in his lot with Scarlet and
Friar Tuck and other "minions of the moon," and thenceforward to live a
free and merry life under the green boughs of Sherwood Forest. A year is
supposed to pass. Act second, called "The Flight of Marian," begins with
a song of the Foresters, in the deep wood--"There is no land like
England." That is a scene of much gentle beauty, enhanced by Robin
Hood's delivery of some of the finest poetry in the play, and also by
the delicious music of Sir Arthur Sullivan. Robin descants upon
freedom, and upon the advantage of dwelling beneath the sky rather than
beneath a groined roof that shuts out all the meaning of heaven. There
is a colloquy between Little John, who is one of Robin's men, and Kate,
who is Marian's maid. Those two are lovers who quarrel and make it up
again, as lovers will. Kate has come to the forest, bringing word of the
flight of her mistress. Prince John has tried to seize Marian, and that
brave girl has repulsed and struck him; and she and her father have
fled--intending to make for France, in which land the old knight expects
to find a friend who will pay his debt and save his estate. While Robin
is considering these things he perceives the approach of Prince John and
the Sheriff of Nottingham, and, thereupon, he takes refuge in the hut of
an old witch and disguises himself in some of her garments. Prince John
and the Sheriff, who are in pursuit of Sir Richard and Marian, find
Robin in this disguise, and for a time they are deceived by him; but
soon they penetrate his masquerade and assail him--whereupon some of his
people come to his assistance, and he is reinforced by Sir Richard Lea.
Prince John and his party are beaten and driven away. Sir Richard is
exhausted, and Robin commits him to the care of the Foresters. Marian,
arrayed as a boy, and pretending to be her brother Walter, has been
present at this combat, as a spectator, and a sparkling scene of
equivoke, mischief, and sentiment ensues between Marian and Robin. That
scene Tennyson wrote and inserted for Ada Rehan, to whose vivacious
temperament it is fitted, and whose action in it expressed with equal
felicity the teasing temper of the coquette and the propitious fondness
of the lover. Robin discovers Marian's identity by means of the ring
that he gave her, and, after due explanation, it is agreed that she and
her father will remain under his protection. Act th